A home theater is a great way to enjoy your favorite movies and shows in the comfort of your own home. You can create a theater-like atmosphere with the right equipment and a little bit of effort.
But what all do you need for a home theater? Here’s a look at the essential components you’ll need to get started.
Television or Projector
The first piece of equipment you’ll need is a television or projector. The size and type of display you choose will largely depend on how much space you have available in your home theater and how much money you’re willing to spend.
LCD, LED, plasma, and 4K Ultra HD televisions are all good options for home theaters. Projectors are another option; they offer larger images than televisions but require more setup work.
Stereo Receiver
A stereo receiver is the brains of your home theater system, allowing all your components to communicate with each other. It provides power to the speakers, bass management for multi-channel setups, switching capabilities for multiple video sources, and more. Look for one that has enough power to drive your system’s speakers as well as plenty of audio inputs and outputs so you can connect all your components.
Speakers
Speakers are an important part of any home theater system; they provide the sound that brings movies, TV shows, and games to life. You’ll need at least five speakers (left/right main speakers, center channel speaker, two surround speakers) for a basic 5.1-channel system; if you want true surround sound with more channels, look for at least seven speakers (left/right main speakers, center channel speaker, four surround speakers). Additionally, if there’s room in your budget and space in your room, consider adding a subwoofer to round out lower frequencies like explosions or thunderous bass lines.
Blu-ray Player or Streaming Player
To watch movies on Blu-ray or stream content from popular services like Netflix or Hulu Plus on demand services like iTunes or Amazon Video, you’ll need some type of player device that can play back digital media files stored on discs or downloaded from online stores. Blu-ray players are great if you prefer physical media over streaming; streaming players come in many shapes and sizes — from set top boxes like Roku or Apple TV to gaming consoles like PlayStation 4 — and offer access to a wide variety of content from many different sources with just one device.
Conclusion:
To build an effective home theater setup requires several pieces of equipment such as a television/projector display unit for visuals; stereo receiver for audio processing; five (or more) properly placed speakers for sound reproduction; plus either a Blu-ray player or streaming player device depending on how you want to access content. With these components in place it should be easy to create an enjoyable movie experience right in the comfort of your own living room!